Electronics enclosure ideas/locations

[bswinn]

I've done some hunting on here plus on xs650chopper.com for photos of how people have done their electronics. I'm coming up with a couple of roadblocks on finidng a solution I like.

First of all most of the photos are either of peoples stock'ers or hardtails. I'm running a visiual impact brat kit on my bike hence the locations of the electronics doesn't really match up with either of these styles of bikes.

Second, the few bikes I can find photos of that are not stock or hard tailed shoe either a fake oil bag, harley style under the seat, or the electronics are open to the world and stashed in various locations on the bikes.

Last, the only one I've seen that I enjoy the idea of is under the swing arm but not attached to it. It's a box mounted to the down tube. My concerns with this idea are the closeness of the chain (read chain goes "NOM NOM NOM" on the box), how does it get mounted, if you need to replace a fuse seems it could be a pain in the rear, and I can't find really good close ups of the box.

My question to the site is does anyone have any other ideas or photo documentation of how they've done it? Bear in mind what I'm putting in there is a Cap replacement for the battery, fuses, and homebrew flasher relay built out of a 555 timer.

 

[Cougar]

Resurrecting this thread I know but, I have been away from the computer for awhile. Im also looking at attaching it under the swing arm. Something like this?

photo via monstercraftsman

 

[bswinn]

Yeah, I found that photo at one point. Probably the best one out there but doesn't give very good detail on how it's attached to the frame. I'm currently in the process of fabricating up my own custom box. Still trying to figure the physical frame mounting though. Anyone out there with any more details?

 

[visimpact]

I recently made a box under my swing arm that is actually welded to the swing arm. Just make sure you have clearance to the brake stay mount on the right. You have to be able to bolt it up. I have also done a few where the wires are tucked right under the swing arm out of the way. I normally move all electronics under or to the back of the bike so you can keep wires short. It works out pretty well. I usually also use in line water proof fuse for the main fuse.

 

[visimpact]

Here are a few pics of my most recent build. This is the best I could find for pics. You can see I moved the starter relay under the swingarm. The reg/rect. is in stock spot. I moved the coil mount and the ign. box under the battery box. Its a ballistic battery and I use one of my pipe bomb igniton switches to start the bike. You can see the box I made to go under the swing arm. You have to make sure you have a lot of holes with rubber grommets to run the wiring thru. Esentially you will make all your connections inside the box and you can leave a good amount of wire in there since there will be plenty of room inside there with only wires in there.

 

[Cougar]

Very cool. Nice to see how you have done done it. Im working on doing something very similar using a small marine electrical housing. Planning on drilling/tapping the swingarm or riveting it on.

 

[visimpact]

Cool, I just used the bottom plate of the swing arm as the back of the box. I welded sides and a bottom on it and then welded two nuts to the inside for the cover plate to bolt too. I drilled holes and put rubber bushings in them and I added at least three large holes and a few small ones just to make sure I had enough. I also ran the ignitor box wiring up thru a notch at the top of the box so I didnt have cut any wires if the need ever came up where I had to remove that. So far it is working really nice. The main thing is you have to leave room on the right side where the brake rods and stay come in so you can bolt them up without issue. It is close there but I left just enough to get it all hooked up. If anyone decides to go this route I strongly urge you to go through mock up completely and make sure you are clearancing everything and the swing arm, chain and anything else will not be a issue.